The Presidential Election will be held on January 26, the pronouncement by Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake was officially declared yesterday.

The acceptance of the Nominations will be handed out on December 17th from 9.00 a.m to 11.00 a.m.

The Upcoming presidential poll will be the country’s fifth Presidential poll to elect the sixth Executive President.

Objections against nominations can be raised from 9.00 am to 11.30 on the same day. The objections could be raised by any of the rival candidates or by persons who had signed the nomination paper, Mr. Dissanayake said in the official declaration.

Up to now four Candidates will run for the presidency. The incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksha, Former Army Commander and Chief Defense Staff Sarath Fonseka, Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratna and Ven. Batharamulle Seelaratene, has openly expressed their indication to run for the presidency next year.

According to Mano Ganeshan the Tamil political parties were still considering whether to put forward a candidate or not.

As to the request of the election commissioner there would be observers from the EU, the Commonwealth, the Association of Asian election monitors and the UN to monitor the upcoming elections.